Bialys

YIELD 14 (3-1/2" diameter) bialys. Stir starter into the warm water. You can use the starter straight from the fridge. (Replenish your starter.) Stir in 1 teaspoon of ordinary salt, not the coarse kind. Incorporate about 3 cups of the flour by stirring vigorously. When the mixture comes away from the sides of the bowl, turn it out on your work surface, heavily dusted with about 1/2 cup of flour, and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough becomes loamy and satiny. Place the dough in a clean, dry, unoiled bowl, large enough to allow the dough to double in bulk. Cover the bowl and set it in a warm place, about 80 degrees, for approximately 4 hours. If your starter is robust, with lots of vim and vigor, and if the temperature is about right, it should double in the allotted time. However there are so many interesting variables in breadbaking it could take 6 hours or just 3 hours for the dough to double in bulk. When the dough is ready, turn it out on a floured work surface. Tumble the dough around for a couple of moments in the flour, let it rest briefly, and then roll it out with a rolling pin to a uniform thickness of about 1/2". Cut out the bialys. I use an empty 3 -1/2" diameter juice can to punch out the bialys by bearing down firmly. Sprinkle bran on 2 standard-sized cookie sheets (insulated sheets are okay, but not necessary here), and place the bialys on the sheets. Cover with cloths and set in a warm place about 80\xb0F to rest and rise for 30 minutes. While you're waiting, chop the onions and get out the coarse salt and the poppy seeds. Preheat the oven to 400F. In the top center of each bialy deposit a pinch of chopped onions, some poppy seeds and a tiny bit of coarse salt. With your fist, mush these ingredients into each bialy. Don't be afraid to mush down hard. Mist bialys with water. Slide the cookie sheets onto a rack in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. During the first l0 minutes of the bake, mist the bialys 2 or 3 more times with the sprayer. Just reach into the oven, mist them, and quickly close the door. Ideally the centers should still be flattened when the bialys emerge from the oven, but this will not always be the case. Don't worry, they'll still be delicious even if they rise like rolls. The bialys are done when they turn golden in color.